


Returning Home

by Silberias



Category: Jodhaa-Akbar (2008)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I love Chughtai Khan and if given the chance will have him always cameo, Missing Scene, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 04:46:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17739269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silberias/pseuds/Silberias
Summary: Jodhaa left her mother's care with a vial of poison in case the Emperor dishonored her. It is because of that little vial of poison that everything falls apart and must be put back together.Just a missing scene fic more than anything.





	Returning Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [avani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/avani/gifts).



> Previously posted on Tumblr.
> 
> Avani had a post where she wanted to see how Rani Padmavati’s feelings changed from “yeah, here’s poison, have fun” to “oh, what a wonderful son-in-law I have!” and...yeah. This came about!
> 
> Kinda bittersweet, more on the hurt than the comfort if we’re being honest.

The letter, a bizarre kindness from her husband, is penned by Todar Mal and tells of the Emperor's acute sensitivity to Jodhaa's homesickness. It also alludes to the necessity of keeping the Empress safe as scandals rock the court in the aftermath of the Prime Minister's murder and the execution of Adham Khan. Jodhaa’s father read the missive, saw the decent company of armed Mughal soldiers and knights, and smiled. Jodhaa's despondency was written off as another kind of heartsickness--having been parted from her husband so suddenly, even if was for her own safety, must pain her.

Her mother almost had the truth of it but Jodhaa managed to continue her husband's oddly kind lie--she haltingly spoke that he was grieving after his own losses. He wished her to spend time with her parents not only for her safety but so that Jodhaa might surround herself with her family once more. The Emperor had lost so much of his own he was sentimental.

It created the vision of a gentle giant in the minds of her parents--the mighty Emperor of Hindustan, brought low and in love by their spirited and beautiful daughter. The monster tamed by gentle hands.

Her mother wept and begged her forgiveness, regretting every exhortation she'd given Jodhaa before the marriage. All the trickery and death--everything recanted and mourned over, and Jodhaa managed small smiles for her mother's changed outlook. When her mother asked, haltingly and full of apology, where the little golden vial had gone Jodhaa said it had been poured out on the morning of her wedding. Then her mother's tears had rained down but this time admiring her daughter's bravery--to face her marriage with no recourse should it prove disastrous. Jodhaa endured being petted and fussed over, knowing all the while that now was truly the last time she would spend with her family.

The night of her expulsion from Agra the Emperor had sent one of his remaining advisors, a Mughal named Chughtai Khan, to speak with her before she was handed into the palanquin and swept away once more to Amer. The old man had a jolly if cragged and weathered face, and it did not appear he personally agreed with the words he spoke.

"Mallika, you will not be charged and tried, nor will your sentence ever be announced. The Emperor must maintain a steady hand over the empire and to accuse you directly of your misdeeds would end the alliance with Amer and many others. The Emperor would be seen as paranoid and a poor judge of character." Jodhaa had resolved to remain silent until her feet were safely on the soil of Amer once more and so said nothing. After a long pause Chughtai Khan continued.

"You will spend no more than a year in Amer, after which you will be returned to Agra and kept under constant guard in the palace. The Emperor will, after another year, declare you barren and take a second wife." This part Chughtai Khan seemed to disagree with in some way and Jodhaa willed the Lord to loosen the man's tongue--and the Lord did, for she had always been faithful.

"A stolen night with an old suitor is not such high treason as to merit all of this, but Shahenshah feels betrayals keenly and will have his way." It was meant to make her confide in him, so he might advocate for her while she was exiled. She half wanted to accept, for she wanted to scream that the man she met was her brother--her dear, lost, and hunted foster brother. The son of her uncle, her own blood, a man who had sworn to always protect and defend her.

Jodhaa instead maintained her vow of silence. If the Emperor would not allow her to defend herself when she stood before him, if he would allow her no words at all, then she would not offend him with her Rajput accent any longer. Chughtai Khan seemed to see and understand it all for he twitched his lips in a wry smile as he looked at her and murmured that the Emperor would soon miss her singing and the scent of her incense, and then he bid her goodbye. He was the only person in all of Agra to do so that night.

When, after hardly six weeks, the Emperor himself arrives unannounced and full of regrets Jodhaa wants to scream and rant all over again. He obviously believes himself absolved of the injustice done to her honor, and the smile in his eyes when he finds her in the veiled crowd is the smile of a conqueror. Well then, Jodhaa thinks to herself as she watches him walk away with Father and Bhagwan Das for a private discussion, she will have to remind him that while he is the Emperor of Hindustan he knows nothing about the people he rules.

And he knows least of all anything about _her_.


End file.
